Is sweating normal?

[Xeaal]

I just fed my spotted a small weanling rat (a bit larger than she normally gets, but nothing in between that size and a mouse was available, so I went with the larger option) and she seems to have a lot of moisture on her body as though she is sweating. Is this normal? I know it's a lot of effort for them to eat and digest food - with the whole flip-top head thing that they do - but just hoping the rat wasn't too big for her.

 

[Stuart]

Any chance she took the food item into her water bowl?

 

[Xeaal]

Nope. Ate it right in front of me

 

[CaptainRatbag]

If it went down the hatch, the snake should be fine....what are your temps and humidity? If humidity is high, could explain the moisture. What is the snake doing now?

 

[someday]

is the tank humidity hi or anything damp in the tank like substrate she could of rolled around in. she may have just come out of her water bowl.

 

[Stuart]

Never heard of any snakes "sweating" as such but I have seen them squeeze moisture out of the food item or drag it through their water bowl and the end result looking like they are sweating

 

[Xeaal]

Sunday is just sitting at the back of her cage, kind of half-curled in a long oval spiral. The heat is at 32 degrees at hot end and 24 at cold end. The humidity is at 49. She didn't go near her water bowl while eating the food, or afterwards. She seems ok.. just staring at me over the big rat-ump in her tummy. Oh wait - the rat was a bit wet when I fed it to her - might this be it???

 

[CaptainRatbag]

Could be.... I would be just keeping an eye on it. If she seems otherwise normal.... bright eyed and bushy tailed (so to speak) she should be fine

 

[Stuart]

. Oh wait - the rat was a bit wet when I fed it to her - might this be it???

I think you just answered your first question.

 

[Xeaal]

Oh thank god! Ok - I didn't know they squeezed water off the rat as they ate it. Make sense now that It's been mentioned. Thanks - sorry for sounding like a panicked mum.

 

[junglepython2]

Snakes don't have sweat glands, they can't sweat.